Skip to main content

My Advent and Dirty Laundry (literally)

Last year's Advent was spent in prayerful discernment about my career.  Not really focused on Christ's birth, but it was spent in profound prayer.  It was much needed and very therapeutic. I still received peace as a gift through the season.

As we head into Advent today, the phrase "Prepare ye the way of the Lord" has been on my heart.  I have noticed how impulsive I have become with purchases, how blind I have been to distinguish needs and wants, and how lazy I have become with my house keeping.

It's time for me to "prepare the way" for Christ to live in us. And this year, that means in my house...literally!

I am tired of being embarrassed with drop in company seeing my house look like an F4 just blew by.  I'm tired of making excuses of "it's been a crazy week, sorry for the mess".  And for being too overwhelmed with clutter that I don't even know where to start.

For me, right now, this isn't a pride thing. It's a sin-of-omission by not keeping house for our family because of my hoarding (I use this term very casually) and laziness.

I talked with Eric about this and he agreed - it's time to make room for Christ in our home.

We're going to tackle an area of our home each week.  Each of them are on the main floor and affect our day-to-day well being and the pulse and feel of our home.

Together we're going to clean the laundry room, kitchen, coat closet, and under stairs closet.  Not just tidy these spaces up, but take everything out, assess (keep, donate/sell, throw away), clean, and put back.

The goal is to remind us of how much we truly have.  And to get back to a more minimalist lifestyle. When we did this three years ago for Lent it was a fruitful exercise for both Eric and I.  We hope to learn and grow from this again.

We'll be employing methods and ideas from The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life - a super easy read with very practical how-tos for each section of the house.

Ready for our dirty laundry?   Seriously.  We NEEEED to do this!

In addition, I will be using Nap Time Diary's Advent calendar + devotional to pray daily.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nathan: Six Months

Measurements: Weight:   16lbs 15.5ounces  Length:  27.5 inches Feeds:  nurses 5 times a day; about 10-15 minutes each session. Diapers:    Blueberry Simplex and Smartbottoms size 3 in disposables Clothes:   9 mos and 6-12 mos Shoes:  none Teeth:  two bottoms Firsts & Milestones: Dec 25 - First Christmas Dec 30 - Tried carrots Jan 12 - flu shots + rolled over Likes: Thumb attention from sisters chewing on anything he can baths Disikes: Tummy time realizing he's alone wet diapers  Nathan continues to be a dream baby.  He lives by his schedule. I can almost set my watch to it. 7-8 wake + nurse 930 car nap  10:30 nurse 12 cradle nap 2 nurse 3 cradle nap 5 nurse 730 bath 8 nurse and bath His six month visit didn't go as swimmingly as expected.  Nathan still isn't putting a lot of pressure on his feet (a 4 month mile...

Our Debt Story Part IV: We're Debt Free...now what?!?!

WE’RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Before you celebrate with us, make sure you've read Elizabeth's Story , Eric's Story , and How We Climbed Out of Debt . Two and a half years of gazelle-ish-like intensity + the few months prior as emotional primer and slowed spending, we made it!  We paid off over $50,000.  We have two car titles. Closed credit card accounts. Statements from one student loan (and one on the way!) with a $0.00 balance.  All our debt with Eric’s parents is paid off.  It’s. All. Gone. We also paid for my 3 semesters of grad school in cash.  Paid a second car accident in cash (it was minor compared to the first one).  Went to Nicaraga on a Mission Trip in cash.  Went on a 5 day Puerto Rican vacation in cash.  We’re up to date on medical expenses for the baby in cash.  All while squeezing in travel for weddings , babies, family reunions, half-marathons , mini-vacations and to see out of town friends...in cash! ...

2017 :: Goals

It's New Year's Resolution time.  Regardless of the date on the calendar, I had a crash and burn kind of semester with having a baby in July and starting teaching my own classes in August. It's literally been sink or swim.  We've made little concessions over the last few months, that are fine. I mean you gotta do what you gotta do. But they're starting to add up and take a toll on our house, our family life, our health, and our marriage.  This week before Christmas and New Year's always seems to be this way for me.  We tried Fall and it didn't work so let's try some new things for Spring.  Summer is it's own beast. This week I've been reading Emily Ley's Grace Not Perfection  and Eric and I watch Minimalism  the new documentary from the guys who write The Minimalists   Both focus on the same thing: simplifying your life to make time and energy for what truly matters. In our discussions this week, Eric and I have come up with some thin...